May 2, 2008
From Terrorists to Full Fledged Army
The Lekarev Report
London's Observer newspaper reported on April 27 that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Hizbullah military recruits from the area are actively drilling for war. There is an "unprecedented build-up of men, equipment and bunker-building." Most men of fighting age are training in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, Syria or Iran.
With generous Iranian funding, Hizbullah's secretive military wing is intensifying its transformation from a guerrilla and terrorist outfit into a full-fledged army with a well-trained militia.
Of course, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 mandates no military activity anywhere in southern Lebanon save for the 10,000 soldiers of the Lebanese Army deployed there, supported by 13,000 UNIFIL troops and 1,500 personnel of the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force stationed along the coast. These forces are tasked with implementing that cease-fire resolution, which "authorizes UNIFIL to take all necessary action to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind." It also forbids any country to bring weapons into Lebanon. It's a joke!
Hizbullah shamelessly violates the cease-fire. And when UNIFIL forces do stumble upon a Hizbullah violation, they tend to file vague and partial reports given only fleeting attention back at UN headquarters.
Last year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon did say he was "deeply worried" about arms trafficking across the Lebanese-Syrian border. His concerns, well-founded, are unlikely to prompt any steps by the Security Council.
The reluctance of UNIFIL forces to "take all necessary action" in confronting Hizbullah is understandable. Twelve "blue helmets" have been killed during the past year. And UNIFIL troops are anyway authorized to open fire only in self-defense which is ludicrous when you're dealing with terrorist mindsets. They can't even enter local villages without a Lebanese army escort.
Serious doings are going on in south Lebanon while Israel is "distracted" by yet another Olmert scandal. It's a good thing that "He who keeps Israel neither slumbers or sleeps" because with all the goings on surrounding Olmert, we can wonder if he's remembering the dangers on our northern border. 
Note on the photo above, that both Hamas (with green headbands, top left of photo) and Hizbollah (with yellowflags, bottom left of the photo) employ the Nazi salute.
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The Lekarev Report
